The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c35.62

v2.c35.62

The exact idea connected with the burning seems to have been that the whole self was burned, soul as well as body, in order to convey it, in a refined form but still unaltered in essence, to the regions of heaven. It is clear from what has been already said that there is no question of the mere sending thither of the soul in the Vedic religion: in the philosophy different ideas appear, but not in the religious faith. Nevertheless at the same time the man is still regarded as being in some measure present in the bones which are left:¹ even if, as is probable, the original force of the verses of the Rigveda and the Atharvaveda, which refer to burial, dealt with real burial, yet when they were adopted for burial of the bones, they must have been felt not to run counter to popular belief.